Comments on: Milton Friedman's Argument for Illegal Immigration

By: The pyramid of misrule and the (still under-appreciated) beauty of the exit option « The Spirit of Moderation

Sun, 23 May 2010 23:48:32 +0000

[...] result, I am very, very sympathetic to the ideas of Paul Romer, Patri Friedman, Lant Pritchett, and others who think the most important thing we can do to improve human well-being in the immediate future is [...]

By: Positive Illegal Immigration Articles - City-Data Forum

Positive Illegal Immigration Articles - City-Data Forum — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:55:56 +0000

[...] | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle The Daily Cougar – Illegal immigrants good for US economy Milton Friedman’s Argument for Illegal Immigration Benefits of Illegal Immigration Offset Costs on the U.S. Economy – Associated Content – [...]

By: Club Penguin Cheats

Club Penguin Cheats — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 23:37:15 +0000

There is something right in the idea that it's bad to have different castes of residents, especially when one group is a perpetual under-caste. For this reason a good guest-worker program will have to include some mixture of incentives for workers to return home and an eventual path to full membership for those who do not but who have contributed for a long enough period of time.

By: DWAnderson

DWAnderson — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 19:23:51 +0000

Gee, I'll try to think outside the narrow confines of my prejudices! Obviously the some unjust laws aren't worth of respect, just because they are laws. Perhaps less obviously (to you) some unjust laws are not SO unjust that they merit disobedience.

By: andrew

andrew — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 17:47:56 +0000

what many forget about 'illegal immigrants' is that prior to the tightening of immigration quotas most of the 'illegals' were coming to america legally yearly as seasonal workers and so on. has it ever occurred to the 'anti-immigration' folk that perhaps something being a law doesn't make it right? perhaps the immigration laws are unjust or illegitimate, as friedman would view the laws that established the federal reserve as unjust and illegitimate. please, think outside the narrow confines of your prejudices, and be consistent! if you're for free markets you can't be for it only in some cases, but all. otherwise, you're just a hypocrite.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:17:09 +0000

Will, this is an interesting article. I would be curious to know how you would define a Guest Worker Program.

Almost all proposals for Guest Worker Program that I have seen do not allow free and competitive markets with respect to labor (by contrast free labor markets do exist with respect to the illegal immigrants). In other words, all of the proposals for such programs have details about length of stay, wages, taxation, etc. Some have even insisted that an immigrant under a Guest Worker Program would have to be paid the same as a legal American citizen. With such restrictions the employer no longer has the same incentive to hire the immigrant. So it is still the case that the employer and worker are better off operating outside of the legal framework. Another downside to a GWP is that a bureaucracy will have to be created to administer it.

I wonder if we are just better off just ignoring the problem of immigration for jobs so long as we have a welfare state.

By: Greg N.

Greg N. — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:50:12 +0000

Oh, Ida. You are a gift that, hopefully, keeps on giving.

By: ida b

ida b — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:35:11 +0000

what i don't like about the illegals the women have babies to get benefits here and they gey benefits they would not be here if they wasn't getting government help they gets welfare and social security, while many american citizens names are put on backlog list who apply for social security,and ssi benefits i am one of those person who social security and medicaid are not helping yet they won't hestiate to give big fat checks to the illegals they gets foodstamps, wic, medicaid, free housing, and schooling and this is wrong.

By: Club Troppo » The rise of welfare feudalism?

Club Troppo » The rise of welfare feudalism? — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:01 +0000

[...] Will’s solution to is to allow foreign workers access to the labour market, but deny them access to welfare entitlements. And if that isn’t possible, then he argues that the next best solution is to promote illegal immigration. [...]

By: Club Troppo » Missing Link Daily

Club Troppo » Missing Link Daily — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:16:03 +0000

[...] Wilkinson plays the Milton Friedman card in arguing for a more open US immigration policy (sans social welfare entitlements – he must have been taking notes from John Howard’s wildly [...]